Stents are typically tubular endoprostheses used for supporting a diseased or traumatized lumen. For example, stents may be used in body vessels such as in coronary or peripheral vasculature, an esophagus, trachea, bronchi, colon, biliary tract, urinary tract, prostate, brain, or in other bodily locations.
Generally, stents can be permanent or temporary depending on the treatment requirements. Stents may be permanently retained in a patient's body, for example, or for an indeterminate amount of time. Further, some stents are designed to remain in a patient's body temporarily.
After implantation, in some cases, stents migrate from the treatment location, for example, due to exposure to flow of bodily fluids or peristalsis. In order to counteract migration, stents may be partially covered or uncovered, allowing tissue ingrowth into the stent.
As discussed above, on occasion it may be useful to retrieve the stent previously deployed in a body lumen. In covered or partially covered stents, however, tissue ingrowth takes places and hence it becomes challenging to remove the stent from the body.
Therefore, there remains a need for a stent that is less likely to migrate and can also be removed easily, as needed.